Category: Action Alerts

You are receiving this email because you are from a state with one or more Republican members of Congress on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). We urge your state PTA to participate in a social media day of action on May 2 to let these members of Congress know about the dangers of a voucher proposal that has been gaining support in recent weeks.

The Military Education Savings Account Act (H.R. 5199/S. 2517) is a bill that would divert funding from Impact Aid, a program that gives federal assistance to military schools located on federally impacted land, into a voucher program. This bill is currently being considered in the House Armed Services Committee. A vote on the bill is expected to take place in the coming weeks and we need your help to amplify the issues with this bill prior to a vote.

We urge your state PTA to get involved in the effort to defeat this bill by participating in a national social media day of action on Wednesday, May 2. The goal of this day of action is to bring lawmakers ‘s attention to the dangers of the Military Education Savings Account Act. To participate, tweet the following from your State PTA’s twitter account:

@RepHartzler @RepSamGraves We urge you to oppose HR 5199, a bill that would use Impact Aid to fund private school vouchers & undermine military students’ educational opportunities #SupportMilFamilies #NoVouchers

Please be sure to tag the member or members of Congress from your state who are on the House Armed Services Committee in this tweet. You can find a full list of these members and their twitter handles in the attached Excel spreadsheet. These tweets are directed towards key members of Congress who are on the House Armed Services Committee, the committee that is considering this bill.

If you are unable to post this tweet on May 2, please try to tweet it out sometime this week or early next week if possible. Please let me know if you have any questions or need any additional information.

Send a letter to your members of Congress urging them to support legislation that would keep our children and our schools safe from gun violence! Personalize the letter in the link below and make your voice heard on this important issue!

After only 30 minutes of debate, yesterday the Missouri Senate gave preliminary approval for a tax bill that will give big cuts to the wealthy and corporations and leave our communities without the resources they need to prosper.

The Senate acted without an estimate of the bill’s fiscal impact. However, the Missouri Budget Project’s initial estimate is that the legislation will cost the state more than $500 million, and possibly as much as $800 million.

Missouri PTA opposes any measure that would take away funding for schools in Missouri. The loss of revenue generated from individual income tax is a large portion of funding for Missouri schools. Without quality schools it will be hard to attract new businesses and may even cause the loss of existing businesses, which hurts all of Missouri.

In the current fiscal year, the tax is budgeted to reduce $464 million for the general revenue budget. These cuts would come at a time when Missouri is already struggling to meet its budget needs due to previously enacted tax changes and would require additional and steep cuts to services including education.

The net effect of SB 617 would cut $464 million from state general revenue in 2019 while SB 611 would reduce state revenue by more than $1 billion. In context, $462 million is the equivalent of 50% of state general revenue funding for mental health. It is more than Missouri spends in general revenue on all early education and child care services combined.

In addition, SB 617 would eliminate the individual income tax over time, increasing its cost each year and eventually resulting in an annual cut of $6.6 billion.Individual income tax currently provides $6.6 billion to support the FY 2018 budget, or 36% of all state-source funding (not including federal funds). There would simply be no way for Missouri to compensate for the loss of revenue.

This bill would place Missouri on a fiscal path that would make Kansas’ recent experience with tax cuts look like a cake walk.

This bill would provide large tax cuts to wealthy Missourians, at the expense of everyone else.SB 617 would give Missourians with average incomes of $1.387 million a tax cut of $11,096 in 2019, while most working Missourians would see little impact or even tax increases. In fact, an analysis by the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy found that 91% of the tax cut would flow to the wealthiest 20% of Missourians.

As in the Kansas experience, Missouri would have little alternative but to move toward regressive consumption taxes (sales tax), increasing the burden on working Missourians.

Schools are already struggling in part due to gaps in the budget created by the passage of SB 641 and SB 1025 in 2016. When Missouri is unable to fully fund its portion of schools every district and every child suffers. This can be felt most strongly in districts that are struggling to pay for the cost of education due to lowering property values and tax revenue. The corporate tax is vital to these schools to help to make the playing field level for all Missouri children no matter the school district.

There are a few districts in Missouri that will be better able to adjust to such a loss in income. However, what about the districts that cannot? There are several districts that already have cut music and extra-curricular activities out of their budget. They already have had to lay off support staff and may have to eventually lay off teachers. How are those schools going to be competitive with the schools that are better able to make up for decrease in funding? The further lack of funds that the loss of income tax would create a greater disparity between school districts.

Furthermore, with an educated population comes a qualified work force. This work force will help attract new businesses to Missouri. These new businesses in turn create new employment opportunities for Missourians. If we cannot fully invest in education we dissolve the very force that will propel Missouri onward. The children of Missouri deserve to have an equal chance no matter from which district they attend. We need to ensure they have career opportunities waiting for them to encourage them to stay in Missouri. Please tell your Senator to vote NO to SB 617.

Dear Senator,

Missouri PTA opposes any measure that would take away funding for schools in Missouri. The loss of revenue generated from individual income tax is a large portion of funding for Missouri schools. Without quality schools it will be hard to attract new businesses and may even cause the loss of existing businesses, which hurts all of Missouri.

In the current fiscal year, the tax is budgeted to reduce $464 million for the general revenue budget. These cuts would come at a time when Missouri is already struggling to meet its budget needs due to previously enacted tax changes, and would require additional and steep cuts to services including education.

Schools are already struggling in part due to gaps in the budget created by the passage of SB 641 and SB 1025 in 2016. When Missouri is unable to fully fund its portion of schools every district and every child suffers. This can be felt most strongly in districts that are struggling to pay for the cost of education due to lowering property values and tax revenue. The corporate tax is vital to these schools to help to make the playing field level for all Missouri children no matter the school district.

There are a few districts in Missouri that will be better able to adjust to such a loss in income. However, what about the districts that cannot? There are several districts that already have cut music and extra curricular activities out of their budget. They already have had to lay off support staff and may have to eventually lay off [i]teachers. How are those schools going to be competitive with the schools that are better able to make up for decrease in funding? We have seen several schools across Missouri lose accreditation and the fall out of students moving to other districts. The further lack of funds that the loss of income tax would create a greater disparity between school districts. This will severely impair how students can be accepted into colleges and how schools will be able to attract quality staff.

Furthermore, with an educated population comes a qualified work force. This work force will help attract new businesses to Missouri. These new businesses in turn create new employment opportunities for Missourians. If we cannot fully invest in education we dissolve the very force that will propel Missouri onward. The children of Missouri deserve to have an equal chance no matter from which district they attend. We need to ensure they have career opportunities waiting for them to encourage them to stay in Missouri. Please tell your Senator to vote NO to SB 617.

Sincerely,

Your Name

PTA Unit

Not sure how to contact your state legislators? Click here and insert your street address or 9-digit zip code.

Please follow this link, and then click on the campaign that says “Tell Congress to Support Sensible Solutions to Eliminate Gun Violence!” to send a message to your members of Congress on this important topic.

National PTA has a long history of support for gun safety and violence prevention and we are committed to making sure every child has the opportunity to learn in a safe and welcoming environment.

In the aftermath of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., National PTA urges you to send a letter to your member of congress asking them to support common-sense solutions to eliminate gun violence and provide a safer and healthier environment for all students. Taking action today is easy-just click here to use the PTA Takes Action Network to contact your members of Congress about this important issue. Please also custimize your letter to your members of Congress by inserting your name and the name of your child’s school in the bracketed areas.

The kind of loss experienced by families and communities impacted by mass shootings is unimaginable, and our country has experienced far too many gun-related tragedies. It is urgent that we work together to find solutions and make meaningful changes to keep our children safe. Thank you for joining us in our mission to make every child’s potential a reality.